Endless
by Amaranthe Socotrine
Summary: Your heart is beating a mile a minute. You can't go through this again. Not again. -CloudxTifa. Chapter two up. R&R please-
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Your heart is beating a mile a minute. Not again. You can't go through this again._

* * *

They all stare at you with concerned, slightly scared eyes. Your own eyes drift to the corner of the room, where two children stand, leaning on each other for support. Your heart clenches when you see Marlene cry, running from Denzel and to her father. Denzel is staring at his feet, his fists clenched at his sides.

_Where is Tifa_? your mind asks, not accepting the fact that she is gone. Tifa _can't _be gone. She is always here, with the family you both share. You feel yourself start to panic, but your expression stays the same. Calm. Cold. Nearly apathetic.

You voice your thought aloud, and you nearly cry out in pain when Yuffie answers, seriousness in her expression for the first time in ages, 'No one knows, Cloud… A man came and- we only found Marlene and Denzel when we got here.'

Your eyes dart to Barrett, your voice cold.

'About an hour ago. Vincent took off to search, and we waited for you…' Even Barrett is scared, albeit pissed off. You understand. Someone was able to take out Tifa? It sounds nearly impossible.

You have your cell phone out, pressed to your ear and striding out the door. You mount Fenrir and in seconds are speeding far away from the bar.

You can't go through this again. Your sanity would not be able to withstand it.

It's much different this time.

For though you loved your mother, you loved Zack, and you loved Aeris…

You are** _in love_ **with your childhood friend, Tifa Lockhart.

You can't go through this again.


	2. I: You wake up

You wake up. Or, at least you _think _you're awake. The room you're in is so dark you can't tell if your eyes are truly open at all.

A cough works its way up your throat, rattling and shaking and echoing through the darkness.

_What happened? Where am I? _you ask yourself.

The last thing you remember before your mind blanks to darkness is cleaning the bar, Marlene holding a picture up to you that she had drawn.

_The kids! Where are they?_

You feel fear start to rise in your chest, fear you should have felt as soon as you woke in darkness, slumped in a cold, damp corner.

You pray to every force on the planet that they are alright before forcing yourself to make your eyes adjust. You certainly don't have a certain ex-SOLDIER's Mako-enhanced vision, but-

_Cloud._

You relax somewhat as you remember that your childhood-crush-turned-best-friend would take care of Marlene and Denzel, if they were still at home, at the bar.

_Not __**if**__, they __**are.**_

Bright, blinding light floods the side of the room you are crouched in, and you see stars.

You hear a man's voice rumble, and your heart skips a beat before it realizes that the voice is deeper than Cloud's. As your eyes struggle to see, a high, musical yet sinister voice joins the cacophony resonating in your eardrums, pounding inside your head.

You can't make out what they're saying, but when you are able to see, if only by squinting your eyes into small slits, you catch a glimpse of your hands bound together on your lap before looking towards the direction of the painful white light.

There is a door not too far from where you are, and a large, muscular form leans against a wall outside the room. His face looks painstakingly familiar, like you should know who it is. A face you see every day but was so plain you never really remembered.

A smaller, more feminine shape stands with a hand on the doorknob, about to step into the room.

From where you are sitting, the light is directly behind her head. You cannot make out anything about her face.

"Well well, looks like she's finally conscious. Three weeks, just like I said." The man scoffs, smirking.

Your mind barely registers anything they say. Your throat feels like ashes and dust. Your voice is so unrecognizable you don't even know you're the one who spoke until the woman laughs.

"Water?" she turns her head slightly to the side and you manage to see shockingly bright red hair covering one full side of her face. "What do you think? Should we get her some water?" she asks her companion.

You try to wet your chapped lips by licking them, but to no avail. _Water…_

You don't quite catch the response before your back slides from the wall, your vision once again darkening before becoming completely black and your mind following suit.


	3. II: You stare

You stare at your right hand, fingers clenched over a familiar object. The sun is peeking subtly through the clouds, offering no comfort as your hand opens and reveals to you the closed, cracked device that you had prayed wouldn't be there when you opened your hand.

It's her phone.

You flip it open but the screen stays black, a long, thin line crossing the top half. Placing it in your pocket, you look back at the space on the ground where you first saw the communication device. The clear stretch of land between a number of large rocks and boulders goes for miles, and you vaguely see what looks almost like large tire tracks leading the way.

You swing your legs over Fenrir and follow them as fast as your bike will allow.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour later Fenrir skids to a stop, large clouds of dust billowing behind you.

Your heart stops for what must have been the five hundredth time since learning of Tifa's disappearance.

There, crashed, mangled, and on its side, is Tifa's truck. You sprint at it, your head pounding.

_Please be okay,__** please **__be okay…_

From what you can see from looking in the closest window, the truck is vacant. You aren't sure if the information makes you feel better or worse.

You know it's the latter when you see the blood stains on the seats.

_Tifa…_

You blink away the heavy wetness gathering in your eyes. This doesn't mean anything, you tell yourself, that could be anyone's blood.

You reach for your phone, your hand freezing slightly when it touches over the crack on her phone before pulling out your own.

The person on the other end picks up on the first ring.

'_Cloud.'_

_You tell the ex-Turk the location of the truck and learn that Vincent has no leads from his search. You look back at the path that Tifa's truck crashed off of. Muttering a quiet goodbye to the ex-Turk, you are back on Fenrir and speeding farther down the path._


	4. III:  She smiles

_She smiles at you from where she's washing the dishes. _

The weak sunlight that has been your companion for hours is falling into darkness around you, your eyes heavy. You can't stop. You won't. Not until you find her, your mind asserts.

Your body insists otherwise. You're having trouble keeping your head up and your eyes open, but a quick shake of your head chases the urge to sleep away before it returns a few brief moments later.

When your eyes seem to be drifting closed for the final time, you groggily bring Fenrir to a sloppy stop.

Where you are is a mystery to you. The road is a faded grey, the land around it pure white. You're almost one hundred percent positive that you've never been here before, and the air is stifling. You're not sure, however, how you managed to drive straight into a desert without even taking notice of where you were headed.

You turn back to where you came from, all fatigue gone from your being, sweat dripping down your neck from the heat.

_What the hell…_

There is nothing to be seen from where you came. There isn't even a road leading back to you. You look down at your feet in confusion. Where was the road?

Your boots aren't there, disappearing under the white powder on the ground. It strikes you as odd that there isn't any snow falling and that Fenrir left no tracks. And that there was snow at all in a desert with air that would melt it in a heartbeat.

You hastily climb onto Fenrir and spin around, eager to be away from this place. As you speed towards what you hope is a way out, you hear her voice loud and clear over the roar of Fenrir's motor.

"_Okaeri."_

The sound your bike makes isn't pretty as it hits something buried in the snow, flipping over it and sending you flying. You land in the powder, swearing, and lay there in pain. Your leg is in indescribable agony, your head light and dizzy. The snow is warm, and soft, not like any snow you've ever felt. It towered above the hole you created when you landed in it, and it reminded you more of the stuff that Tifa used to bake with than snow….

_Tifa!_

_You heard her, you tell yourself, standing up as fast as you can without putting too much weight on your right leg. The white powder is up to your chin when you stand up fully, and you hurriedly search for her._

_You find nothing. No one._

_You have no time to feel the loss before the snow is over your head and crushing you and you faint from pain, heat, and exhaustion._


End file.
